Home cooked vegetarian food recipe - Rendang Potatoes

Here is another vegetarian dish that sometimes we prepare for our yoga retreat guests here in Langkawi.

Rendang Potatoes (serves 3-4 people)

5-6 medium size potatoes (peeled) cut into big chunks

1 medium size sweet potato (peeled) cut into smaller chunks (Some of them will melt into the sauce when it is well cooked for a long time)

A bit of Tamarind (Assam Jawa juice or dried Tamarind)

Either 3/4 cup of fresh grated coconut (pounded and lightly fried without oil until dried) , or half cup of dessicated coconut

4 cups of coconut milk

2 pieces of Turmeric leaf (Daun Kunyit)

1 teaspoon of brown sugar (to balance the sourness of tamarind and spiciness of chillies)

2 teaspoons of packet Rendang mix powder (if you can find the one without MSG)

Salt to taste

For grinding into a paste mixture -
10-12 shallots, about 3 inches cube ginger (you can use more if you like the taste of ginger), about 2 inches cube Galangal, 5-6 sticks of lemon grass (use only the beginning 2 inches from the root), a few dried or fresh small red chillies (depending on the preferred spiciness), a bit of Turmeric powder, a bit of water for mixing.

x x x x x x x x x x x x

Heat up the pot, add a bit of cooking oil and then the paste mixture, stir evenly in low to medium heat until the paste is thickening or the raw taste of onion is gone. Add in Rendang mix powder, stir well into the paste.

Add coconut milk, Turmeric leaf, Tamarind juice, grated coconut and stir evenly for everything to mix well until boiling.

Add brown sugar and a bit of salt. Stir well.

Add potatoes and sweet potatoes. Stir well.

Cover and stir occasionally to prevent burning at the bottom, in low to medium heat for about 30-35 minutes, or until the liquid thickens and the potatoes are well cooked. Add a bit of water if the liquid thickened too soon before the potatoes are well cooked. Add salt to taste before serving if needed.

This is a dish with thick and rich sauce coating the potatoes.

The well cooked potatoes and sweet potatoes gives natural sweetness and thickening effect to the dish, that's why I use only a bit of brown sugar and less grated coconut here, compared to the non-vegetarian chicken Rendang recipe.

Serve hot.

It is very nice eating with fresh salads. It's like a potatoes and fresh salad mix with Rendang dressings, instead of the usual salad dressing.

Bon Appétit!